Call of Duty sales begin to slow

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 indeed set new records as far as entertainment launches go, but it looks like growth has begun to slow for the perennial juggernaut. Apparently Call of Duty: Black Ops is outpacing Modern Warfare 3 by around 4.2 percent, according to analysts at Macquarie Equities.

Year over year, Modern Warfare 3 sold roughly half as many copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops in March ’11 and ’12, respectively.

March video game sales as a whole were down at retailers, and analysts have multiple theories on why this is. Some believe that many casual players are buying less games at traditional brick and mortar shops, using their consoles for video streaming and other forms of digital consumption.

Michael Pachter thinks that “software sales are becoming more reliant on new releases, and consumers aren’t buying games after their initial release as frequently.